PETALING JAYA, April 30 — Mohammad Rafiezulanwar Jaffri didn’t think too much of his playful “haircut” challenge on social media at first.
The 24-year-old Johorean, fondly known as Rafie, uploaded an amusing picture of a man with an eccentric haircut onto his Facebook page yesterday morning, jokingly saying that he would get that cut if he got one million comments on the post.
Rafie’s confidence or over-confidence, however, left him in a pickle as little did he know how much interest the seemingly impossible challenge would garner, and the one million mark was achieved in less than half a day as soon as social media users caught wind of his post.
Shocked when he found out, Rafie told Malay Mail that he decided to follow through with the haircut, despite his obvious qualms.
“At first I thought of putting the goal at 500,000 comments. Then I thought I might as well make it a million because I was so confident that it would never reach that amount,” said Rafie.
“I never expected this but thanks to the power of social media, it actually happened and went viral.”
Rafie, who hails from Johor Baru, currently stays in Singapore, working on the frontlines in the battle against Covid-19 as a hospital housekeeper at the Changi General Hospital.
Hospital housekeepers play a vital role during the pandemic, as their job entails sustaining a sterile environment in all rooms of a hospital.
He added that he never planned on doing something like this, but just uploaded the photo as a humorous post for his friends on Facebook.
“All of this was completely spontaneous. I never planned to upload it just to shave off my hair. I was just bored, googling things on my phone and came across the picture, so I just uploaded it for fun,” said Rafie.
While many would’ve probably found a cave to hide themselves in, Rafie made good on his promise, saying that he would do it right after work, as he documented his unique trim in a live video on his Facebook.
“Hi, we’re only using a pair of scissors to cut my hair. We tried to find an electric shaver but we couldn’t. So please be patient. I’m keeping my promise but it might take a while,” said Rafie in the video, looking visibly tired after work.
“You guys wanted to see me do it right? So here you go. I can’t believe I have to cut it.”
While he looked noticeably regretful at first — stroking his full head of hair — Rafie took his pledge seriously and even gave feedback to his roommates, giving them directions on how to make the haircut identical to the one in the picture.
And after an hour of cutting and shaving, Rafie’s new look was finally complete.
“I was only doing this for entertainment, don’t take it so seriously. I thought it was impossible that so many people would care about it,” said Rafie in the video.
“I appreciate all the comments and love I’ve received but I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to go back to work like this. The patients might get a shock,” he joked.
When asked, Rafie said that he plans on keeping this haircut, for a few days at least, to appease the public’s request.
“I’m not worried about going out in public. I’ll go get my food and essentials myself even with this hair,” said Rafie.
“I’m going to keep this hairstyle until everyone is satisfied with what they have seen.”
https://www.facebook.com/RafiezulAnwar/posts/3240374809326101
Social media users played a pivotal role in getting Rafie to cut his hair as his post has garnered over 54,000 likes and 18,000 shares in one day.
When they first got word of Rafie’s post, users from all over the country banded together to hit the one million comment mark, spamming the comments section in whatever way they could.
Many users also praised Rafie for being a man of his word and thanked him for his service on the frontlines, as well as entertaining so many people during this difficult time.
“Snap a picture for us brother. Then we can all make your photo our wallpaper for the day to honour your sacrifice,” joked one user.
“Massive respect to you! Not only are you a frontliner keeping people safe, but you also entertain us during this time. Thank you!” wrote another.
While other users also called Rafie brave for going through with the haircut, some of his friends said that they hope he doesn’t do anything silly like this in the future.
